ANNOTATION HIGHLIGHT GUIDELINES:
Yellow – main idea
Blue – words I don’t understand ‘written definition or synonyms’
Green - details that standout ‘written comment, explanation or paraphrased’
A metaphorical Asking permission
hallucination, which Is this a dagger which I see before me,
emphasises that
Macbeth isn’t sure if The handle toward my hand? Come, let me clutch thee.
the whether the You, as the
dagger he sees is real I have thee not, and yet I see thee still. singular object
or not.
Art thou not, fatal vision, sensible
Foreshadows the
You, as the To feeling as to sight? or art thou but death
singular subject
A dagger of the mind, a false creation,
Feeling of uncertainty,
Macbeth is experiencing
Proceeding from the heat-oppressed brain?
The word "marshall'st" countless of emotions.
could indicate that the I see thee yet, in form as palpable
hallucinated "dagger" is
ordering Macbeth to The dagger looks so real in is head
As this which now I draw. that make Macbeth conflicted
murder King Duncan in
his chambers or it could whether the object is real or just a
Thou marshall'st me the way that I was going; hallucination.
be Lady Macbeth's is the
dagger that forces him And such an instrument I was to use.
act. The dagger could be real or in this
Mine eyes are made the fools o' the other senses, case, the dagger could also refer
My eyes are deceiving me, to Macbeth himself, who is
or my eyes are correct and Or else worth all the rest; I see thee still, merely a tool in the murder plot.
my other senses are
misleading. And on thy blade and dudgeon gouts of blood,
Macbeth already saw the
To keep his conscience clear, he Which was not so before. There's no such thing: consequences of his deed; the
called it a bloody business blood symbolizes his impending
instead of murder It is the bloody business which informs guilt, foreshadowing his hands
stain by blood.
To appear before my eyes Thus to mine eyes. Now o'er the one halfworld
Human nature, Macbeth’s guilt
Nature seems dead, and wicked dreams abuse
is taking over him that won’t
Offer sacrifices to the goddess let him sleep.
Hecate; the personification of The curtain'd sleep; witchcraft celebrates
murder is awakened by a wolf With curtains around the
acting as his sentinel. Pale Hecate's offerings, and wither'd murder,
bed or no one can witness
of the King.
One who keeps watch or Alarum'd by his sentinel, the wolf,
stands guard.
Whose howl's his watch, thus with his stealthy pace. Wolf in sheep’s clothing;
Macbeth as a predator
With Tarquin's ravishing strides, towards his design
Walking as silently as he can, A signal to act
like a ghost, towards Duncan's
chambers.
Silently
Moves like a ghost. Thou sure and firm-set earth, Hard ground
As he enters Duncan's chamber Hear not my steps, which way they walk, for fear
Macbeth is afraid that the
and murders him, Macbeth
Thy very stones prate of my whereabout, stones under his feet will
asks the earth to make his
make a sound that could
steps similarly silent so that no
And take the present horror from the time, warn Duncan of the
one will be aware of his plans. intrusion.
Which now suits with it. Whiles I threat, he lives:
While Macbeth stay there
Words to the heat of deeds too cold breath gives. talking, Duncan lives.
It’s no good thinking
about all this: he just
needs to go ahead and
end everything. The more
he talks about doing it,
the weaker his resolve
grows.
Questions I came up with after reading the Act 2 Scene 1 in Macbeth:
Was Macbeth really deceived by his hallucination?
Did Macbeth felt guilty until the end?
Is Lady Macbeth using him?
Is Macbeth insane?
To what extent is Macbeth to blame for his own actions?
Does Macbeth have choices or is it his fate to kill the king and become the eventual king
himself?
Write a 300-word essay explaining how Shakespeare presents Macbeth as an
anxious character in this speech.
The resistance takes the form of a narrative from a world wherein fear does not
appear to exist, where no spectacle, be it an image of a hand with blood stains or death, can
frighten a hero. But to another in which a tragic hero is terrified of something that does not exist
materially. More than just a reorganization, this narrative depicts an epistemological crisis in
which fear is no longer a social indicator that separates one social class from another, nor a
remarkable group of heroes from the rest of the world, but rather a desire that affects humanity
and thus defines humanity.
The story Macbeth concerns a character, a courageous warrior who becomes a
terrified and tormented tragic hero; Shakespeare envisions a different form of conflict between
courage and terror. Before the killing in scene I, tension is already built up when Macbeth
reappears, having completed the so-called "deed." Macbeths' reactions and sentiments to their
crime are visible, and if the characters are unsettled or tense, it adds to the atmosphere. In
Macbeth's Act II, scene 1, the hero transitions from an absence of dread that marks an archaic
sort of heroism to worry voiced about an incomprehensible, illusory, and impalpable reality, a
feature of the Shakespearean tragic self. This transformation from one state to another is
consequential. A visual representation of this transition from one condition to another is a
conflict between the tangible and the ethereal, between the ghost, and creeping material, and
"Tarquin and Hecates."
In scenes with the witches, Shakespeare uses the imagery of night and darkness to
make them appear evil and unruly. When someone is doing or thinking something evil, they
frequently use imagery of night and darkness, which adds to the appearance of evil and
derangement. An act where one is engulfed in darkness adds to the play's entertainment value
and keeps the audience's attention. When a tragic event occurs in the play darkness is frequently
used.